Defining Religion

[Zealot]

How can we define religion? Is it a system of thought that binds people together? Belief in a god? A set of beliefs with no basis in reality? Every definition I think of, I seem to run into difficulties. Communism is obviously not a religion but with some definitions e.g "..a system of thought that binds people together" it could be classified as such. What is the underlying idea defining all religions?

[The Jay]

It's a belief in the supernatural according to some dogma. You're going to get a lot of different answers but I think that this is the most basic.

[Vyacheslav Brolotov]

Is it a system of thought that binds people together? Belief in a god? A set of beliefs with no basis in reality?

Religion is none of these things. A religion binds together a certain group of people, while excluding all others, only to allow them in if they change their beliefs. Religion causes tears in the social fabric of the proletariat. Also, religion does not always mean a belief in a God, but it is defined as any systematic belief in a supernatural phenomenon. Ever heard of Jainism, which denies the existence of a supreme being. Lastly, all religions have some basis in reality. For example, Jesus Christ was probably a real man. It does not need to be a large basis, but every religion came from observations of the real world, mostly the observations that left ancient people with more unanswered questions than answers.

[hatzel]

A religion binds together a certain group of people, while excluding all others, only to allow them in if they change their beliefs.

Allow 'them' in what, exactly...and how does this overcome the OP's issues when it comes to finding a definition of religion inapplicable to Communism? Or does the term 'beliefs' not include political beliefs?

I feel like throwing a real curveball here with Stirner's 'Art and religion (http://i-studies.com/library/articles/art_religion.shtml)':


In art, the world of the artist is set before one's eyes as an Object, a world which the artist has brought forth and concentrated from the full power and richness of his own inwardness, a world which will satisfy every real need and longing. For its part, religion strives to recover this world once again for man's inwardness, to draw it back to its source, to make it again subjective. Religion endeavors to reconcile the Ideal, or God, with man, the subject, and to strip God of his hard Objectivity. God is to become inward - 'Not I, but Christ lives in me.' Man, sundered from the Ideal, strives to win God and God's Grace, and to finally transform God into his own being [Gott ganz zu seinem Ich zu machen], and God, separated from man, would only win him for the Kingdom of Heaven. Both sides seek and so complement each other. However, they will never find one another, and will never become united, for if they ever would then religion itself would vanish, for religion only exists in this separation. Accordingly, the believer hopes for nothing more than that he will someday have a 'face-to-face view'.

Though I happen to feel that finding a single definition of 'religion' applicable to all possible 'religions' is effectively impossible. Just thought I'd mention that.

[Guy Incognito]

Honestly I think religion is just a belief structure, I don't think it requires actual belief in the supernatural. In the U.S. (and I'm sure other places around the world), some people worship football teams to the point of religious fervor, follow bizarre rituals and chant. Some become furious if those beliefs are challenged, or especially if mocked. So I think that many things could be considered religion, but are taboo to be declared so.

I think it also shouldn't be confused with organized religion, which is honestly where I think we run into problems.

[Zealot]

It's a belief in the supernatural according to some dogma. You're going to get a lot of different answers but I think that this is the most basic.

But not all religions have a belief in the supernatural, e.g Laveyan Satanism, Buddhism.


Religion is none of these things. A religion binds together a certain group of people, while excluding all others, only to allow them in if they change their beliefs.

This isn't peculiar to religion though. Political parties, schools, communities etc. all do this.

[The Jay]

But not all religions have a belief in the supernatural, e.g Laveyan Satanism, Buddhism.



This isn't peculiar to religion though. Political parties, schools, communities etc. all do this.

I don't consider them religions, except for the branches of buddhism that believe in spirits. I consider them philosophical positions.

[MotherCossack]

my very learned grandpa, who used to be assistant bishop of jerusalem and then oxford, and is still, i reckon, the coolest possible clergyman and possibly the oldest [99 today].
he has said in sermons and books and to me, in the past, that he thinks it is all about:

FAITH!
that is ... having a firmly held belief in something and living your life in accordance with that belief...
i really respect him.. loads... he is fluent in arabic and is an expert on islam...has translated the Quran for Collins, and written loads of books seeking to reconcile christianity and islam.
bless him... the crap going on in the middle east really causes him grief...
it is a shame that he has seen such a mess made, by some-one or other, in the middle east, at the end of his life.
the poor man... i am afraid that he is an idealist ... and one of a minority within organised religon that have the savvy to try and inject some truth into their 'faith.'
his ideas are so much more relevant and honest than those of the official christian standpoint...
still... you cant deny that in all probability... religon is 98% horse-shit....and potentially very toxic , to boot!!!!!

[Neoprime]

Religion is a Superstitious Moral Belief that requires a certain amount of faith to believe in, sometimes it has a Deity that is consided the Moral Master of the belief.

[ChrisK]

How can we define religion? Is it a system of thought that binds people together? Belief in a god? A set of beliefs with no basis in reality? Every definition I think of, I seem to run into difficulties. Communism is obviously not a religion but with some definitions e.g "..a system of thought that binds people together" it could be classified as such. What is the underlying idea defining all religions?

That is because in your definition you are looking for an essence shared by all religion. Rather, you ought to be looking for what is called a family resemblance.

This idea was formed by Wittgenstein when he considered how you would define a game. As he noticed, all attempts at a definition of what a game was came up short. Rather, they all resembled each other much as family members resemble one another (there is no one thing, but a general trend of being alike). Thus, he argued that we know a game is a game because it resembles other things called games.

Thus, religions would resemble one another in various ways, without having one definite thing uniting all of them.

[Ostrinski]

Religion is simply a deeply mystified abstraction of ideology, in terms of how we would characterize its relationship to society.

[MotherCossack]

religon is merely a coping mechanism.
invented by our predecessors, constructed over time
corruptable, yet not without some merit...
people without any faith... get lost more easily.

[Revolution starts with U]

I was talking to some friends about how I could've been surrounded by so many drugs nd users and still managed to not become an addict. My answer was basically always that I had faith I would be a part of the Revolution, and so had no need to use drugs to hide from reality.

[Elysian]

I was talking to some friends about how I could've been surrounded by so many drugs nd users and still managed to not become an addict. My answer was basically always that I had faith I would be a part of the Revolution, and so had no need to use drugs to hide from reality.

Someone asked me the same question. I told them ... being an alcoholic, it won't be wise to become a drug addict as well.;)